Musicians and D&D: Tom Morello, Decemberists, Old 97's
Plus Khepera Publishing's Jerry Grayson and Donny and Marie
A recent D Magazine article mentioned how author Stephen King’s son Owen plays D&D with members of the band The Old 97’s. It included a link to this terrific No Depression article excerpt titled “Dungeons & Dragons’ Offers Musicians a Multiverse of Creativity.” Although the musicians that author Stacy Chandler mentions are frequently included in lists of celebrities who play D&D, she provides quotes that have more substance on the gaming side than I usually see.
Guitarist Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman, Prophets of Rage) describes the parallels between playing roleplaying game and being in a band as follows:
“The most obvious thing they have in common is it’s a collaborative, creative endeavor with people who often find themselves together from diverse backgrounds, and you’ve got to find a way to make it work both in the party setting, as your characters, and in the human setting, the people sitting around the table.”
Chris Funk of the Decemberists draws similar comparisons:
“There’s a lot of moments when you jump in and make it your own, be creative with other people — it’s like being in a band,” he says. “There are these give-and-go moments where you get to step forward and do something, and then you have to know when to step back and let somebody else do something and keep this thing moving forward.”
Lastly, Rhett Miller from the Old 97’s articulates the collaboration that music and RPGs have in common:
“The thing that drew me to music was the collaborative element,” he explains, “the idea that we support each other, we are all in this because we love music and we love making music and the idea of creation — there is nothing and then suddenly there is something. To me, that was really reminiscent of the thing that drew me in to Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a collaborative storytelling game, and that’s what music is. It’s ‘We’re telling a story together.’ ‘We are coming together to make something that didn’t exist before and we’re building a world and …it gets to be as stupid and as funny and as scary as we want.’”
Jerry Grayson
One of the highlights of last week’s Indie RPG Creator Summit was the presentation called “ My Secret Origin Story: From Superhero Gamer to Superhero Game Designer” by Jerry Grayson from Khepera Publishing. Jerry was inspiring, wise, and funny. I was thrilled when he included a throwback music reference in the following quote:
“Do not stew in your own cool; creativity is a stone soup made with many disparate ingredients. Add a little country and a little rock and roll.”
Had to shout out for the OG dice there with your rage screen! Folks might think they must have been though a lot, but somehow they always seemed to come out of the box looking like that. Your theme is so spot on, gaming and music are just tightly linked in my head as well.
This is awesome -- I knew about Tom Morello and Chris Funk (also a game designer! Check out Illimat, which is an excellent tabletop game), but Rhett Miller? That's awesome. Love me some Old 97's.
Also, one of my favorite stories: one time I got to interview Tom Morello, and I asked him what it was like to be in the E-Street Band (which, at the time, he was touring with). His answer was the most Tom Morello thing ever: "Bruce Springsteen is the only boss worth listening to."